How Mukaruhimbi’s Prank saved 100 Tutsis

If you think killers are not afraid of ghosts, then you might as well think twice. What happened in the dark days of 1994, during the genocide against the Tutsi, is a true testimony.

One day, as killings intensified, thousands fled their homes,blood-thirsty Interahamwe militia stormed Zura Mukaruhimbiâ€™s home at Masomo village in Ruhango district in Southern Rwanda.

The militia had been tipped off that hundreds of Tutsi were hiding in her house.When they arrived at Mukaruhimbiâ€™s home, they were frightened.

Word had spread in the early days that Mukaruhimbi was a dangerous witch and wicked old woman. â€œWe feared her. She was a known traditional healer,â€ Ngaruye told KTPress.

When they arrived, they found fire burning in her house. Mukaruhimbi scared the militia that her ghosts would wipe them all if they dared enter her house.

â€œNo one dared,â€ she testified recently during the 21st Commemoration of the genocide against Tutsi that claimed a million lives.

Zura interacting with area residents. She says nobody should hurt others

But the militia kept returning, and threatening her. â€œThey wanted to check inside the house to see if there was anyone hiding,â€ she said.

They mounted pressure and one day they decided, enough with the scare. She took the risk and let it loose. They entered. Just as they entered, they were greeted with itchy and colossal herbal substances she had painted on the walls.

â€œThey all run back telling everyone there were ghosts inside the house. â€œEveryone believed her ghosts were dangerous and would kill them,â€ says Ernest Ngaruye, one of the survivors she hid.

They all ran out of the house. They tried to bribe her with money. She rejected it and told them, â€œmoney could not cost me lives of Rwandans.â€

That is how Mukaruhimbi, now 106 years-old, managed to save all the 100 Tutsis.

In 2009, Mukaruhimbi was decorated with a honorary medal for her heroic acts.

With her age, she might seem too old for anything, but she still has a good memory and some sense of humour.

She told KTPress that, â€œOne day, President Paul Kagame visited our village and said if everyone was a witch doctor like me, genocide could not have happened.â€

Inside a room where Zura kept safe over a hundred Tutsi that were being hunted by Interahamwe Militia.